Dr Katharine Vincent is currently in Bled, Slovenia, for the 4th Lead Authors Meeting of IPCC Working Group 2 on Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation. Katharine is serving as a lead author on chapter 9 – rural areas, and a contributing author on chapter 22 – Africa. She is also a lead author for the technical summary, and will be leading a discussion group on this in Bled. Ms Tracy Cull is serving as a contributing author on chapter 9 – rural areas. The Fifth Assessment Report will be forthcoming in 2014.

Dr Katharine Vincent is currently in Malawi to undertake the first of several scoping trips to develop a project that will ensure the integration of adaptation into development planning and national and district levels in the country. The project concept was developed by UNDP and has been approved by the Global Environment Facility as eligible for Least Developed Countries Fund monies. Stakeholder consultations are currently taking place at national level (in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Management) and in the three districts (Nkhata Bay, Ntcheu and Zomba) in order to elaborate a project proposal and implementation plan.